


Catching Cold

by Farashe



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Common Cold, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 11:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3609144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Farashe/pseuds/Farashe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of short drabbles. The Inquisitor has a cold, how do his/her lover and friends react?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Lovers

**Author's Note:**

> This came out of a conversation I had with [Delouest](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Delouest/pseuds/Delouest). We both decided to write what we think the various love interests of DA:I would be like if the Inquisitor got a cold. Hers are a tad longer than mine, and the first one (Iron Bull) can be found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3608049/chapters/7961337). Please go check it out! (Also, she is just a fabulous writer so you should read her other stories too.)
> 
> Please note, I haven't played through all the romances yet, so I'm sorry if I got any characters a bit wrong. I tried to match these to what I know of those characters outside of their romance arc (and Delouest helped me with Dorian and Blackwall as she had romanced them). Hopefully, they are true to the characters.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Cullen overreacts. The Inquisitor tries to hide her symptoms from him as long as possible, but he notices. He calls in Skyhold’s senior healers and frowns ferociously when he is assured that it really is just a cold. When the healers recommend bed rest and plenty of fluids, Cullen immediately tucks the Inquisitor under a mountain of blankets and insures her teacup is never empty. Eventually she begins sending him on errands just to keep him from hovering, and she insists that he read her reports out loud so she can remain informed of her Inquisition’s doings. Really she just finds his voice soothing. When she falls asleep, he holds her hand gently while his brow furrows in worry for her.

\---

Solas immediately notices that she’s ill. He convinces her to take herbal remedies that he makes himself. He quietly makes sure that no one bothers her unless it’s a true emergency though he is careful to ensure she doesn’t notice his interference. He sits by her bedside watching her struggle to find sleep despite her aching head and sore throat, and he begins to sing to her softly, old songs that he learned in dreams. His voice makes her dreams sweet, and she wakes rested with Solas still awake beside her.

\---

The Iron Bull takes charge. He orders the kitchens to make a batch of extremely spicy soup (his own recipe) and tells the Inquisitor to eat every last bit. Yes, it burns, but she finds her sinuses clearing with each spoonful. He then orders her to bed and tucks her in with infinite gentleness. When a messenger arrives, The Iron Bull just stands up and crosses his arms while making his most intimidating face. The messenger apologizes, and no one else dares disturb the Inquisitor. When the Inquisitor wakes the next morning feeling mostly better, she finds Bull asleep with his back against her door. He smiles when he wakes. “Looking good, kadan,” he says with a lewd wink.

\---

Cassandra tells the Inquisitor he is being ridiculous and to find someone else if he wants coddling. Yet somehow she finds herself outside his door berating anyone that tries to disturb him. When he hears her, he tells her she might as well keep him company. He looks so pathetic, cocooned in his blankets that she begins to pace anxiously. In an effort to get her to stop he asks her for a cup of tea which she brews far too strong to be drinkable (one extra strong cup is as good as three weak ones, she thinks) so he asks her to read him poetry to help him sleep, but she refuses, blushing. A few minutes later she is sitting in a chair by his bed reading to him, her face still slightly flushed. Once he’s asleep she puts down the book and gently strokes his hair.

\---

Sera generally makes a nuisance of herself. She jumps on the bed, tells stories about her pranks, laughs too loud and complains that she’s bored. When the Inquisitor tries to send her away though, she’s only gone for a few minutes. She returns looking contrite and carrying a jar of lemon sweets (“for your throat, I guess” she says when asked). “Damn Inky, you look like shite!” she says, but her voice is gentle. She sits on the bed and they play Wicked Grace until the Inquisitor can’t keep her eyes open. Sera peeks at the Inquisitor’s cards, plucking one to make sure her own is the winning hand, then she lays down and takes a nap of her own, oblivious to her lover’s snores.

\---

Josephine mobilizes all of Skyhold. Or that’s what it seems like. She consults with the healers about the most efficacious remedies then sends orders to the kitchen to make sure there’s plenty of soup and tea. The servants are rounded up to make sure there are plenty of blankets and warming pans and that the fire is constantly roaring. Once all the preparations are complete, Josephine clears her calendar for the day and curls up in bed with the Inquisitor. She fetches tea when needed but mostly she’s just there with a kind word and a gentle hand to make her love feel a little bit better.

\---

Dorian insists on nursing the Inquisitor himself. “The others will only give you barbaric remedies doomed to make your illness worse” he sniffs. Instead the Tevinter mage wraps the Inquisitor in his own robe (a wonderful thing of rich velvet and elaborate embroidery) and cocoons him in blankets in bed. Dorian then proceeds to fetch teas and potions, pillows and handkerchiefs until the Inquisitor’s every need (real or imagined) is seen to. Eventually Dorian settles down and reads a Tevinter history out loud and comments on its inaccuracies while his lover dozes. Once, when he notices the Inquisitor is asleep, Dorian stops reading, but the Inquisitor’s eyes open blearily. “Why’d you stop?” he asks in a stuffed-nose voice. Dorian doesn’t stop again. He reads aloud all night.

\---

Blackwall doesn’t say much, he just takes action. The Inquisitor tells him she’s just fine, thank you. Blackwall nods and tells her she’s welcome to stay with him in the barn loft. He builds up the fire and sends one of the stable hands running to the kitchens for hot, nourishing soup. She watches these actions suspiciously, but he doesn’t say anything about her illness, he only eats a bowl of soup with her. When she falls asleep in her chair, he picks her up and carries her to his cot and settles her beneath the blankets before climbing in beside her for extra warmth. His sword calloused hands stroke her hair as he watches over her through the night.


	2. The Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not just lovers that care when the Inquisitor is ill. How do Leliana, Vivienne, Varric and Cole take care of their leader?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing these for the various love interests so much that I decided to expand the idea. These all happened because of a conversation I had with [Delouest](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Delouest). She's doing her own take on the idea with cute little scenes. She's done [Iron Bull](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3608049/chapters/7961337) and [Blackwall](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3608049/chapters/7983102) so far. Her writing is wonderful so I recommend you give them a read!

Leliana takes an indirect approach. She notices the Inquisitor trying to hide her coughs and sniffles, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead she sneaks a sleeping potion into her wine at lunch. When the Inquisitor rises from the table, barely able to keep her eyes open, and says she’s going to take a brief nap, Leliana ghosts to her side and lifts the keys to the tower door from the Inquisitor’s belt. She locks door, preventing anyone from getting in to disturb the Inquisitor...and also preventing the Inquisitor from getting out to exhaust herself. Leliana then retires to the shrine she’s made in the rookery and prays to Andraste for the Herald’s swift recovery.

\---

Vivienne merely raises an eyebrow and says, “Darling, you look absolutely horrible. Return to your room immediately before you drive all our allies away.” And the Inquisitor does as she says. Vivienne then spends the remainder of the day intercepting and vetting the Inquisitor’s correspondence and visitors herself. Those trying to waste that august lady’s time find themselves on the receiving end of Madame de Fer’s ire. Word spread quickly throughout Skyhold, and the Inquisitor was left to recover in peace.

\---

Varric spreads rumors. The Inquisitor is on a super secret quest that he can’t discuss but it’s vital for the Inquisition’s success. What do you mean you heard she’s just up in her tower resting? Of course that’s the official story, but Varric knows she’s really away. Everyone buys it so there’s no one to see the Inquisitor at her worst. Except Varric. He sneaks up to her room with all the essentials and then tells her all his favorite Hawke stories, complete with appropriate exaggerations, and she laughs so much that she barely remembers she’s sick. She falls asleep with a smile on her face, and Varric tiptoes from the room confident she’ll wake feeling much better. Laughter is the best medicine after all.

\---

Cole doesn’t know how to help. He brings tea with honey, and the Inquisitor smiles in thanks, but she just keeps coughing and sneezing. He brings a potion from the healers, and that seems to ease her symptoms a bit, but her feet still drag, and she has trouble focusing. She crawls into bed, but her sleep is disturbed by fever dreams. He places cool cloths on her forehead and murmurs the song her mother would sing her to sleep with as a child. The Inquisitor’s nightmares retreat, and when she wakes, she is stronger. Cole is nowhere to be seen, but she remembers.


End file.
